Food cutting machines often include mechanical components that operate at high temperatures and are sealed from exposure to food products. For example, a drive assembly for a food cutting machine, such as in Model CC-D manufactured by Urschel Laboratories, Valparaiso Ind., has been found to have a drive assembly that fails due to repeated use. It has been determined that the major culprit of the failure is bearing assembly failure.
There have been many factors found that result in the bearing assembly failure which include: high-pressure cleaning of the mechanical components which results in driving the grease from the bearing assemblies, improper consistency of grease, and excessive preloading of the bearing. Unfortunately, due to the compartmentalized nature of these food cutting machines, current designs do not provide easy access to the bearing assemblies used to stabilize and secure rotating components of the machine.
In order to lubricate the bearing assemblies, one must disassemble an entire drive assembly in order to access the bearing assemblies. This is a time consuming endeavor and results in the machine being inoperable over a period of time, which in turn results in loss of production.
In the past, bearing assembly failure has been an accepted operating condition. Different types of grease, seals and combinations thereof, and preloading of bearing assemblies have been employed to remedy the failure of the bearing assemblies. While grease is used to lubricate bearing assemblies in known drive assembly designs, there is no means to maintain lubrication of the bearing assemblies once a drive assembly is assembled.
It is important to keep in mind that when cutting food products, it is necessary that the cutting machine remain free of debris or lubrication media so as not to contaminate the food product. In addition, the cutting machine must be made of a simplified design to enable easy clean-up and maintenance. It follows that the food cutting machines must be sufficiently versatile while maintaining a high degree of operating precision. Due to the relatively high volume of cutting operations that these food cutting machines are intended to perform, down time of the machines due to mechanical failure is highly undesirable. Therefore, mitigating bearing assembly failure is a high concern for operators of these cutting machines.
For the foregoing reasons, there is need for a device or method that remedies the bearing assembly failure in known food cutting machines while being configured so as to operate effectively while enabling easy maintenance and precision operation of the food cutting machine.